BMI’s 18th Annual Howdy Texas Party

March 13th, 6-8pm

Contemporary blues-rock duo Larkin Poe is a sister act comprised
of Atlanta-natives Rebecca and Megan Lovell, who relocated to
Nashville to pursue their musical ambitions. Named for one of
their familial ancestors who was also a distant cousin of Edgar
Allan Poe, Larkin Poe’s music mines a reverent blend of blues
and Americana with the patina of a Southern Gothic
sensibility, punctuated by the sisters’ seamless
harmonies and gritty interplay between electric
and slide guitars. The sisters have steadily won critical
kudos on both sides of the Atlantic and amassed a fervent
following on Facebook. Their debut LP, Peach, arrived in the
fall of 2017, with a mix of classic covers and emphatic original
songs.

Of Rayland Baxter’s first single, “Yellow Eyes,” NPR Music’s
Ann Powers notes, “Many musicians can craft about one-third of
an excellent pop song. Some write beautiful, bare melodies that
drip into your head like honey into cake. Others are masters of
tone, using genius arrangements and technical wizardry to craft
a sound that transports, no matter the shape of the tune. Still
others employ wit to craft characters that feel like friends.
Rarely, a musician manages to do all three. On the new
‘Yellow Eyes,’ Rayland Baxter comes pretty darn close to such
perfection.” The album Imaginary Man is out now, with every
song just as compelling.

Yeti

YETI/BMI Day Party

March 14th, 12:30pm - 7pm, YETI Flagship, 220 S. Congress Avenue

Tyler Childers’s debut album, Purgatory, co-produced by
GRAMMY-winners Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson, is a
semiautobiographical sketch of Childers’ growth from wayward
youth to happily married man, told in the tradition of a
Southern gothic novel with a classic noir antihero who may
just be irredeemable. There’s catharsis and redemption. Sin and
temptation. Murder and deceit. Demons and angels.
Moonshine and cocaine. All played out on the large,
colorful canvas of landmarks and legendary moments from
his childhood in Eastern Kentucky. The stunning debut announces
an authentic new voice as Childers becomes an artist of consequence.

Southern California trio, Wallows, specializes in an infectious
variation of guitar-based indie rock that is reverent of established
alternative touchstones, but with a thoroughly fresh, contemporary
approach. As their irrepressible singles like “Pleaser” and “Sun Tan”
handily amplify, Wallows are bursting with energy and fresh ideas,
and looking to release more new music soon.

Already causing a quiet stir with their emotive singles
“Stars and Moon” and “Swim,” Ontario indie quartet Dizzy play a
shimmering blend of vespertine pop, flecked with gentle synthesizers,
subtle guitars and the playfully intimate vocals of one Katie Munshaw,
whose relatable songs about the tricky intricacies of the heart
sound intriguingly other-dimensional. Their debut LP, produced by
GRAMMY-nominated Damian Taylor, is expected this summer.

Indie duo Slenderbodies is a pair of Northern Californians who sing,
write, produce and mix all their own music, a languid, whispery
mélange of spritely pop. Anchored by supple, hypnotic grooves
and dreamy melodies, the band has released three textured
albums of intangibly atmospheric songs. Three EP’s into their
journey, Slenderbodies are touring extensively and preparing
for their first album.

The propulsive, psychedelic soul combo that is Kalu & the Electric
Joint sprang out of Austin, Texas, after Nigerian transplant Kalu
James assembled a coterie of like-minded players to realize his
sonic vision of a band that spans generations with a deft
integration of rock, funk, soul and all points in between.
The band’s first album, Time Undone, boasts both a
reverence for the legacy music that inspired it and an
assertive foothold in the contemporary.

Morgan Saint emerged in 2017 from the North Shore of New York’s
Long Island with an audacious vision and a distinctive sound.
Striving to craft contemporary pop music that is simultaneously
catchy and emotionally resonant, Saint’s so-called “mood pop”
comes wrapped in colorful, euphoric choruses and immediate,
irrepressible hooks, with narratives suited to an open-hearted,
personal journal. Her debut EP, 17 Hero, is a bold, opening
salvo from a burgeoning songwriter still just discovering her
endless possibility.

BMI Official Showcase @ Antone's

March 14th, 7pm - 2am, Antone's, 305 E 5th Street

The heartbreaking, distilled, defiantly classic country that poured
out of Joshua Hedley in the making of his album, Mr. Jukebox,
is a salve and beacon for ‘60s honky-tonk devotees everywhere.
But make no mistake: Hedley’s music is not mere homage.
It’s vigorous, bold, and new. The talented fiddle player
and songwriter is also a powerful and smooth singer with a
baritone that sweeps listeners away, whatever the song. When
asked what he hopes listeners get out of Mr. Jukebox, Hedley
doesn’t hesitate. “I just want people to remember they have '
feelings, and that they’re valid.” Well sung.

Los Angeles-based indie-pop trio, lovelytheband, is comprised of
former Oh Honey frontman Mitchy Collins, guitarist Jordan
Greenwald and drummer Sam Price. In the spring of 2017,
Billboard premiered the video for their debut single,
“Broken,” and the song went on to earn more than three million
streams on Spotify. This impact was followed by the release of
the trio’s highly-anticipated debut EP Everything I Could Never
Say… The band is continuing to tour and prepare for a
full-length debut LP.

An atypical country artist, Devin Dawson’s approach to music is
not different on purpose, it’s different with purpose. Dawson’s lyrics,
as well as his music, draw you in from the first verse and keep
you hooked until the very last chord. His high-voltage country
has earned the California native critical praise from Rolling
Stone, Billboard and American Songwriter, as well as People,
Entertainment Weekly, Huffington Post, ELLE, Stereogum,
and others.

To hear them explain it, British duo Bones is “leading the charge of
taking rock’n’roll firmly into the 31st century.” Comprised of vocalist
Rosie Bones and guitarist Carmen Van Den Berg, the band has already
racked up some serious cred to back up their claim. After hearing
an early gig by the duo in London’s Camden Town, rock legend Jeff
Beck asked Bones and Van Den Berg to collaborate—as both co-writers
and players—on his 2016 album Loud Hailer. Upon seeing the video
for their third and most recent single, “Beautiful Is Boring,”
Nylon praised Bones for their “Trent Reznor-level cool.” Their music has
been featured on series including Orange is the New Black,
Transparent and The Vampire Diaries, as well as commercials for
Apple and Victoria’s Secret.

A NYC-born singer/songwriter/actor/dancer with a powerfully
versatile voice, MAX has been steadily making a name for himself
online, having already accrued more than 1.2 million followers
on YouTube, 200,000 followers on Twitter and 940,00 likes on
Facebook. His pop-soul singles like “Gibberish” have earned him
accolades from MTV, he’s performed on NBC’s TODAY Show, at
Lollapalooza (on the BMI stage), and starred as Van Dyke Parks
in the Beach Boys biopic, Love & Mercy. He’s about to disembark
on a European tour with Fall Out Boy, and recently performed his
single, “Lights Down Low” on The Late Late Show with James Corden.

Enigmatic electronic duo, Capyac, have been releasing surreal
but infectiously danceable music since 2015, when they unleased
their debut EP, Movement Swallows. Further releases, including
their 2016 LP Headlunge, the 2017 single “Cloud” and a
second EP, Fis, have only heightened their mystique, and
won the band an international fan-base that extends into
Europe and Asia. The band’s aesthetic may be hard to pin down,
but their colorful music and celebratory live shows are
undeniable.

BMI Presents: Sonidos Alternos

March 14th, 7pm - 2am, Speakeasy, 412 S. Congress Avenue

Monterrey, Mexico’s Buffalo Blanco first assembled in 2009 as
a supergroup of sorts, featuring former members of hallowed
Mexican ensembles like Jumbo, Volovan, Niña and Panda. Their
combined strengths have resulted in four albums of
genre-straddling rock that embrace elements of country,
blues, folk rock and beyond.

The Chamanas are a Fronterizo indie pop fusion ensemble
from the border between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez,
Chihuahua. True to their geographical origins,
the band melds the music of two separate cultures
into a mellifluous mix that defies tidy genre-categorization,
but that showcases the beauty and distinction of musical
crosspollination. In five years, they’ve releases several
acclaimed singles and a full LP, Once Once, played a string of
high-profile festivals and collaborated with similarly
adventurous artists as Portugal The Man and Beach House,
among others.

As a rapper, singer/songwriter, actress and producer,
Melymel has already firmly established herself as a major
force in her native Dominican Republic. Her videos have
garnered more the 20 million views on YouTube, and she is
followed by over 1.3 million fans on social media. She is
currently readying the release of her new album, Dragon Queen,
to follow up the success for her celebrated recent single,
“IDGAF.”

COASTCITY is the combined musical vision of Jean Rodriguez
and Danny Flores, two versatile musicians and producers from
Puerto Rico who have worked separately with a veritable
who’s-who of pop royalty, but collectively pool their
gifts into an alchemized and bilingual sound they describe as
Caribbean Soul.

Deftly merging Cumbia with Alternative while hidden behind
their signature Luchador masks, Puerto Rico’s Los Chinchillos
del Caribe were born out of student strikes at the University
of Puerto Rico in 2009. They’ve since grown into a versatile
ensemble whose music is steeped in mischievous celebration,
defiance and irrepressible rhythm.

Using reggae as only a starting point, Venezuelan collective
Rawayana prefers to describe its music as “trippy pop,” in
that it melds an array of genres and influences into a colorful,
positive and engaging blend that engages and encourages its
listeners to explore and experience. After three celebrated albums,
they received a Latin GRAMMY nomination for their efforts.

BMI / AT&T Acoustic Brunch presented by SunTrust Bank

March 16th, 10:30am - 1:30pm

The pseudonym of one Kayleigh O’Connor, Sampson is a
Halifax-born but Montreal-based singer/songwriter
whose debut album, Dark Sky Nights, is suitably mellifluous
rumination on the depths of the human heart. Fragile but
emotionally resonant, Sampson’s music has been heard in the
CW’s Beauty and The Beast, Lifetime’s Sea Change, ABC’s
Somewhere Between and more.

Young & Slick is the versatile project of Nick van Hofwegen,
a Dutch multi-media artist who makes danceable R&B and
couches his music in his own brand of suitably distinctive
visual art. Fun, psychedelic, soulful and uplifting,
Young & Sick’s whole aesthetic was adopted by artists
like Maroon 5, Foster the People and Robin Thicke,
who used van Hofwegen’s artwork on their album covers.
Musically, Young & Sick have been releasing songs
since 2012, touching off a six-figure bidding war
between several major labels to release the single,
“Cotinuum,” all of whom van Hofwegen turned down.
Signing with Harvest records in 2013, Young & Sick
released an eponymous debut album in 2014, and van
Hofwegen is currently working on its follow-up.

After a dozen roots-rock records, Paul Thorn reclaims his
past by celebrating the first music he was ever exposed to.
Don’t Let the Devil Ride combines strong influences stemming
from Paul’s life experiences and his earliest musical influence:
gospel. Many tracks on this record are lesser-known gospel
chestnuts released by small Mississippi and Alabama labels
in the late 1950s-70s and are typical of the sound that was
heard on local radio stations or tentside revivals in that era.
One exception is the most well-known track on the album, the O’Jays’
famous single “Love Train.” But it perfectly frames the
album’s theme of love and inclusion. “This is the culmination
of my whole life in music, coming back to my gospel roots,” says
Thorn about Don’t Let the Devil Ride. “My message on this
record is ‘let’s get together’ - I want to help lighten your
load and make you smile.”

London-based singer/songwriter Jade Bird’s debut EP,
Something American, is the work of a developing
singer/songwriter whose vulnerably distinctive voice
and savvy blend of pop, folk, blues and country has
been turning heads and garnering praise. She is
currently writing and refining music for her
first full-length album.

Silky smooth Los Angeles combo, The Marias, play a sultry brand
of jazzy, lounge-friendly pop with a languid Latin vibe.
Their debut EP, Superclean Vol.1, is a warm cocktail of dreamy,
lovingly-rendered music that doesn’t quite belong to a
single age or era.

Inspired by the passion of vintage soul and the emotional
uplift of gospel music, New Jersey native Davie cut his
musical teeth singing in churches in a traveling gospel
band. His vocal prowess led him to Los Angeles, where he
found work singing back-up for artists like Chris Brown,
Cee-Lo Green and Childish Gambino. But it wasn’t until
he went back to the churches of his youth that he found
the key to unlock his own path. His debut, Black Gospel
Vol.1, is filled with both Davie’s fiery spiritual passion
and the celebratory energy of contemporary R&B, and the
euphoria his songs can generate is palpable.

Value of Music in the Gaming World

March 15th, 12:30pm - 1:30pm, Austin Convention Center- Room 10A

This event requires a SXSW badge

Advancements in online/mobile gaming have created new
opportunities for gaming & music communities to prosper
together. From a musical score setting the soundscape in a
first-person shooter to nailing a guitar solo with your
controller as an instrument to a Karaoke app, music has
become a key part of the gaming experience. This panel will
explore the value music brings to gaming & the
complexities around its legal usage, focusing on game
developers & platforms as well as the artists/composers.
Click here
for more information.